


Four Weeks

by KimliPan



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Everyone is safe, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pet Names, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2020-06-25 13:32:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19746754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KimliPan/pseuds/KimliPan
Summary: After Xion starts planning a couples trip to an upcoming festival, Sora accidentally lies and says that he's dating someone too so he can join them. Riku agrees to pretend to date Sora, but only until the festival -- which is four weeks away, and not everybody buys it.





	1. The Lie

**Author's Note:**

> I definitely don't have other projects I'm supposed to be working on when inspiration struck, don't look at me

“Yeah. That’s right, I _am_ seeing someone,” Sora said, pushing his shoulders back and his chest out.

Everyone was looking at him now. Damn it, it wasn’t _that_ surprising, was it? It seemed like everyone else had someone – why shouldn’t Sora be dating, too? Maybe he shouldn’t have said it. No, he definitely shouldn’t have said it. But what else was he supposed to do when Xion goaded him on like that? And besides, why did it have to be a _couples_ thing anyway?

“That’s great, Sora. Who is it?” Namine asked, linking her arm into Xion’s as she entered the conversation.

His confidence wavered only slightly at the question; lying was never his strong suit, but he’d started in with this, so he had to follow through. His chest deflated for only a moment as he looked around, eyes landing on someone off in the distance walking along the upper edge of the beach with Roxas.

“Riku,” he said without another moment’s hesitation. “It’s Riku. We’ve been keeping it quiet until now. But I guess now you know!”

“ _Really_.” Sora suspected by the smirk on Lea’s face that he was not convinced.

“Yes, _really_ ,” he said, a distinct blush heating his cheeks.

“Well, it’s about damn time if I do say so myself.” He gave Sora a loud _clap!_ on the back before draping his arm over his shoulders. “You and _loverboy_ have been making moon eyes at each other since before _I’ve_ known you.”

Sora frowned as Lea ruffled his hair. His instinct was to decry the claim, and he opened his mouth to do so – but then he realized Lea was probably trying to catch him in his lie. He shrugged out of the taller man’s hold on him.

But Namine’s smile brightened. “Then you can come with us after all! Right, Xi?”

“I guess,” said Xion dubiously. Sora pouted. “That is unless you’re _making it up_.”

_You know, for a part of me, she sure doesn’t act like me_ , he thought a little sourly before shooting back with a bold, “We’ll be there.” He gave her a look of determination, to which she replied with a raised brow. “Together,” he added. Then, for good measure, “You know. As a couple.”

Lea laughed.

The teasing didn’t let up after that. Once Isa joined the group, they told him the news, and he replied with as much open skepticism as Xion. Soon enough, almost everyone knew – _including_ Kairi. Everyone, that was… except Riku himself, who was sitting on the beach alone on the other side of the island.

Sora felt guilty as he approached the scene, stalling beside Riku instead of sitting down.

Riku looked up at him and patted the sand beside him. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Was it that obvious?

Sora tried to pull off a grin, but the expression looked pained, so he just dropped it and took a seat on the ground beside him. “I sort of…” He trailed off; now faced with actually having to tell Riku what happened, he wasn’t so sure he could pull it off.

“You sort of what?” He turned his body toward Sora and put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Sora blushed at the contact but didn’t shy away.

“I sort of need you to pretend we’re dating.” There. He blurted it all out at once, shoved his hands into the ground, and he looked at Riku with wide eyes, hoping in earnest Riku wouldn’t-

“You _what?_ ” He pulled his hand back from Sora’s shoulder, covering his mouth as a his whole face turned red.

“Well.” Sora took in a huge breath, then let it all out in one go: “Xion was planning a whole thing to the upcoming festival, you know, fireworks and rides and all, and I wanted to go, too, but she was all _couples only_ and who says she gets to make the rules anyway? So I said, you know _I’m_ seeing someone too! And she was all _who_ and I don’t know, I just…” His eyes fell to the ground as he began to lose steam and he pushed the sand around with his fingers.

“So you lied,” Riku said. Sora nodded. When he heard Riku chuckle, he looked up to see him shaking his head.

“Please, Riku!”

“Why? You know they’re just teasing you. They can’t stop you from going, can they?”

“Well,” said Sora with a pout. “Don’t you want to go?”

“Yeah, but…” Riku shrugged. “I won’t pretend we’re dating when we’re not, Sora, I’m sorry.”

Sora nodded. He sighed. Now he had to admit to everyone he was lying – not that they didn’t already suspect as much. “Alright…” Resignedly, he leaned back on the heals of his palms and set his eyes out on the horizon alongside Riku. At least he wasn’t _mad_ , he thought.

But this meant that they wouldn’t get to go on the rides together, or get their picture taken doing silly things, or share one giant cotton candy cone… “I wanted to watch the fireworks with you,” he admitted aloud.

“I didn’t say I’m _not_ going,” said Riku with a chuckle.

“That’s great!” said Sora. He could still go with Riku! So… if he was still going… and he had someone to go _with…_ Why did he still feel disappointed that Riku wouldn’t play along? He folded his hands behind his head and laid back in the sand.

Once the sun was down, they walked together back to the docks. Almost everyone had already gone back to the mainland, but Lea and Xion “couldn’t leave you two lovebirds out here by yourselves,” as Lea put it.

“Yeah, about that…” Sora paused and rubbed the back of his neck, shifting uncomfortably. He felt his face getting hot with Riku right beside him having to suffer the consequences of Sora’s lie. “You see—”

“What, broken up already?” Xion teased with her legs hanging over the edge of the dock though her feet didn’t reach the water. “Poor Sowa,” she said with a fake pout.

“Ah-ha, yeah, well, uh—”

Sora’s stammering stopped when Riku took his hand in his own, intertwining their fingers together. “Why would you say that?” Riku asked, and she laughed, looking between them with awe.

“No way! You’re _actually_ dating?” she said, pulling herself up to her feet.

“It’s honestly not that hard to believe,” said Lea, patting Xion on the back. “I’m tellin’ ya, _moon eyes_. Since day number one. Come on. It’s getting late.”

As the attention moved away from them, Sora looked to Riku to see him blushing. “Riku…”

“Come on, _darling_ ,” said Riku, leading Sora toward the boat.

“I thought you said…?” he whispered once they were sitting down.

“Just until the festival,” said Riku. Sora wondered what he was thinking. “When is it?”

“In a few weeks.”

Riku’s eyes widened. Sora laughed nervously. That was… going to be a while to fake it. Might as well lean into it, he thought, awkwardly placing a hand on top of Riku’s. Riku pulled away at the touch, but as Xion looked their way, he placed it right back on top of Sora’s. His stomach twisted in a knot.

This was one of the worst ideas he’d ever had.


	2. Week One, Part 1: Riku

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to update this at least once a week. I want to make myself write with regularity again. More tags will be added as they become relevant. Also note: This is un-beta'd and I am writing it as a part of my July Camp Nanowrimo project. Thank you for reading!

Riku held a hand out to Sora, who got right up on out of the boat without any assistance whatesoever. Well. Okay, so no chivalry, he thought as he awkwardly rubbed his hand over his stomach as if that was what he’d set out to do.

“So… what is this festival?” he asked as they walked together back to Sora’s place. All he knew was that there’d be fireworks, but that wasn’t really much to go off of; Donald could bring the fireworks out no matter where they went.

“It’s in Corona,” said Sora. “Rapunzel’s hosting it for the whole kingdom!”

Riku chuckled, shoving his hands in his pockets. It felt weird, walking with Sora and pretending to be dating him, yet still trying to stop himself from reaching out and taking his hand. It was bad enough that he wanted to hold Sora’s hand even on a normal day; his pockets didn’t do much to curb the impulse.

“I would have liked to see Xion try to stop you from going.”

Sora gave a pout. “She was trying to get everyone together to go, and, I don’t know…”

Riku nodded. She did know just what to say to rile Sora up. No matter, it was too late now. He figured… they should probably set up some boundaries. Maybe? How could he bring it up? _So, I’m not allowed to kiss you, right?_ That was pretty obvious, even if he _was_ walking Sora home.

“I had a good time tonight,” Riku said in a sing-song voice, digging his toe into the ground and twisting his hands in front of him like a schoolgirl with a crush. He got exactly what he wanted out of it: Sora laughed.

He laughed, and he smacked Riku’s arm, making Riku laugh back.

“Thanks for playing along,” he said. Riku noded, shoving his hands back in his pockets.

“I guess… if everyone thinks we’re dating, we should probably act like it, too,” Riku replied. _Not by kissing him goodnight_ , Riku reminded himself.

“Why did you do it?”

“Hm?” He shifted his weight onto his toes, then rocked back on his heels. “Oh… I don’t know. Felt bad for you, I guess.” A shrug. “And you looked so pathetic,” he added with a smirk.

“Riku!”

“Well, we’re in it together, now. After four weeks, we’ll break up,” he answered, shrugging again.

“You don’t have to do this,” said Sora, and Riku didn’t know how to read it.

“Are _you_ feeling sorry for _me_?” he asked with a surprised laugh. Did that mean…? No, there was no chance Sora knew. There was no chance Sora would even be aware of those sorts of feelings. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sora.” He was done talking about it.

“Yeah.” He pat Riku’s upper arm. Riku looked around to see if anyone was watching them, but no one was nearby so far as he could tell.

The moment Sora closed the door, Riku brought his hands to his face and let out a long, shaky breath. A whole month? Of _this?_ Four full weeks of Riku trying to guess at the balance between _pretending_ to date Sora and _actually dating him_.

Now that Sora was out of site, Riku’s knees gave out; he sat on the steps for a moment, grabbing onto the railing to try and steady himself. His other hand went to his chest. Did he have the strength to do this?

Okay. One breath in. He _could_ do this. He slowly pushed the breath back out through pursed lips. One more breath in. Maybe they could spend most of the time apart? The second breath came out a bit ragged. He hoisted himself up with one glance back toward the house just as Sora poked his head out through the curtains.

Riku gave him one last wave before running off. He had to try and spend off this nervous energy.

He didn’t go home.

Instead, he went off toward the park, jogging through the pathways across the vast fields. The sky was clear, so he looked up as he ran, enjoying the view, focusing his mind on nothing but his breathing and the stars. It was freeing, actually – the running was usually a morning thing, so the scene change made the experience feel fresh. And the wonder of it helped settle his stomach, which was churning from the change of events.

He didn’t know why he did it. He’d even _said_ he couldn’t – he told Sora _no_ , which was not something he did lightly. But the moment Xion teased Sora in front of him, it was like she was telling Riku directly, _you’ll never be together,_ and he reacted without thinking. His hand found Sora’s, and his heart leapt at the contact.

Thinking on it, his jog slowed to a walk, then a stroll, and his paced continued to slow until he was standing still in the middle of the field with his eyes up at the stars. He focused on his breathing, remembering that brief moment when he pulled his hand away from Sora’s on the boat.

The touch was hot. Too hot, and it had made his heart leap painfully in his chest.

But when Xion saw him do that, he brought it back, rested it on top of Sora’s, and after the moment it took to get used to the contact, it felt good. So, so good. Natural, and good. It was calming, like Sora’s hand had simply become an extension of his own.

Still facing the sky, he closed his eyes and focused all of his energy into his breathing while keeping his attention on the feeling of his lungs filling with air and releasing each breath. This helped distract him from the knots forming in the pit of his gut at the thought of _breaking up_ with Sora after the festival.

_This_ was why he had said he couldn’t do it.

“Riku!”

He opened his eyes and looked behind him. It was Roxas waving enthusiastically and breaking into a run to reach him.

“Hey, Roxas.”

“What are you doing out here?” he asked.

Riku rubbed at the back of his neck. “Just taking some air. You headed back?” Roxas nodded. “I’ll join you, then.”

Roxas was one of the few people Riku actually felt at ease with. It was like he and Lea both knew a part of him that even Sora and Kairi had never really seen, which made him feel like he could be himself. Himself… and maybe honest? He was tempted to say something, _Sora and I aren’t actually dating_ , but he knew the moment it entered Roxas’s ears, Lea would surely find out even if Roxas tried to keep the secret. Better to keep it to himself.

“Who are you bringing to the festival?” Riku asked.

“What do you mean?”

Riku frowned. “Your date?”

“Do I need a date?”

He groaned at that. “Xion told Sora it was a couples thing,” he said. Of course Sora believed her. Of course he believed her, _and_ pulled Riku into this mess. He smiled to himself at how gullible Sora was.

“Oh,” said Roxas, laughing nervously. “Guess I’m going alone, then.” Riku nodded, then changed the subject.

Waking up the next morning was hard. He was lying on his back with his hands over his face when his gummi phone went off. He was unsurprised to roll over and see _Sora_ light up across the screen. Sitting up as he answered, he watched as Sora’s face appear.

“Riku!” he said.

“Hey, Sora.”

“Were you still sleeping?”

“Mm.” He’d been up for a while, but couldn’t get himself out of bed. “What’s up? You don’t usually call this early.”

“I dunno… Just thought if we’re _dating_ we should spend time together.” Riku raised a brow. “You know, like… What are date-like things? We could head to Twilight Town, see a movie…”

“We’re not actually dating, Sora.” So much for trying to keep a distance.

“So? They won’t believe us if we don’t _act_ like it!”

Sora was definitely putting a lot of energy into this farce. It was sweet, Riku thought with a chuckle. “Alright,” he said. “Movie date it is. Meet you at the ship.” He just had to get through this so-called date, and one day down.

Sora was all excitement and wonder. It was almost as if he’d never seen a movie before. He ran on up to the guy selling popcorn and bought the biggest bucket he could, shoving a fistful into his mouth like it was his first ever taste. “Slow down, Sora, you’re gonna make yourself sick,” he said, reaching in to take a fistful of the popcorn for himself.

“Well, well, well.” The both of them looked over to see Lea walking on up to him, Isa only a few steps behind in tow. “If it isn’t the honeymooners.” He grinned, giving Riku a hearty _clap_ on the back. He dropped some of the popcorn.

“The movie’s starting,” he blurted out awkwardly.

“No it’s not,” said Sora, looking up at Riku in wonder.

“Still… we should… find our seats.” He glanced around Lea at Isa who was completely disinterested in the conversation. In fact, he was taking his own seat on one of the benches in the far back. Fair enough, Riku thought. It wouldn’t be too hard to shake them. “We wanted a good seat up front.”

“Good thinking!” said Sora.

But Riku could have kicked himself. It was the farthest thing from good thinking Riku could have offered. What it meant was that Lea and Isa were able to keep an _eye on them_ he realized once they were in place and he ventured a glance backwards. They had a _clear line of sight_. And maybe Isa wouldn’t care, but Lea would certainly have something to say if their date looked nothing like a date.

The movie started, and Riku inched ever so slightly closer to Sora, letting his arm hang awkwardly at the back of the bench behind them. Sora munched the popcorn and watched as the movie began, blissfully unaware of the pressuring eyes behind them, boring into their backs.

He let a few heavy breaths out through his nose before he worked up the nerve to raise his arm and drape it over Sora’s shoulders.

There. He did it.

He glanced over at Sora whose hand hovered barely an inch above the popcorn with a blush on his face.

“They’re watching us,” he whispered, and to his surprise, Sora responded by _leaning against Riku’s chest_.

It was Riku’s turn to freeze.

What should he do?

Well. They were dating. _Pretend_ dating, but dating nonetheless. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath (the product in Sora’s hair was salty and oddly refreshing), and let his hand fall down to rest on Sora’s side.

This was it. This was that comfortable feeling from his hand back on the boat. Like Sora was simply an extension of his body, returned to him. Like he was lying in bed, and his own warmth under the comforter soothed his entire body. He could hear his blood rushing through his ears like they were plugged with cotton, completely washing out any sounds from the movie.

“Let them watch,” said Sora, and Riku couldn’t see his face, but he sounded quite smug.

He was actually disappointed when the movie ended and they had to pull themselves apart. His eyes had been closed through most of it, and he found himself just enjoying Sora’s closeness. As his body began to cool, however, it was like he was coming back down to reality and he realized that by enjoying it, it was like he was taking advantage of Sora, who didn’t actually want to date him.

Lea and Isa were on their way over, but Riku wasn’t feeling up to humoring anyone.

“I’m not feeling great, Sora,” he said, excusing himself to the gummi ship.

“Riku…”

“When you’re ready, I’ll drive us home.”

This was only one day down. He still had almost four full weeks to go.


	3. Week One, Pt. 2: Sora

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so I apologize profusely for leaving this hanging, it seems like as much as I WANT to update weekly, it's just Not Gonna Happen. Anyway, have some un-beta'd quarantine writing. 
> 
> Also Note: Riku is a dumb car nerd and I will have this headcanon ripped from my cold dead hands.
> 
> ALSO. PLEASE LOOK AT [THIS FANART](https://twitter.com/cloudcastor/status/1160630888872304645) by [@cloudcastor](https://twitter.com/cloudcastor) inspired by Riku's lil jog in the last chapter! I lost my got dang mind, it's so freaking pretty.

The ride back in the Gummi Ship was quiet. Just like when they were in the boat, Riku withdrew whenever Sora tried to get close – but this time no one was watching, and Riku didn’t walk him home after.

“Okay, well… Feel better,” Sora said when Riku declined Sora’s offer to escort _him_ home instead.

“Yeah,” said Riku with one of his now-usual attempts at a smile that only looked oddly pained. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shifted his weight. Sora had the sinking feeling that this whole thing was getting on Riku’s nerves. He’d have to try harder to make it fun for him. “I will.”

“I’ll call you later,” Sora said with a half-step after him when Riku began to walk off. His heart began to ache, he didn’t _want_ Riku to leave like this. It felt like something was wrong, and _Sora_ was the one doing the wrong thing.

That was that.

Sora watched him retreat, then wondered what he could even _do_ with the rest of his day. His after-movie plans were pretty involved, and now they were all out. It was still early to go home, so maybe… someone else was around? He pulled his phone out, scrolling through his contacts, but his eyes instinctively went to Riku’s name first.

 _Darn it,_ Sora wished he wasn’t sick. This whole fake-boyfriends scheme was _so fun_ , and it felt _so good_ to go to the movies with Riku and hold onto his arm, resting his head on Riku’s shoulders just to stick it right in Lea’s face.

And he’d planned a special dinner and dessert right down to the minute!

 _I should let Scrooge and Little Chef know_ , he realized. He shot a quick message to Lea to see if he stop by the Bistro and let them know that he and Riku couldn’t be coming around, after all.

But, oh! Dinner!

If Riku was sick, he probably wasn’t going to find his _own_ dinner. And with as much time as Sora spent with Little Chef in the kitchen, he _had_ to have learned _something_.

That was the idea floating around in his head when he ran into Kairi.

“Why don’t we make him some soup?” she suggested.

So they did. Kairi took them back to the Mayor’s house where they took advantage of the big, spacious, well-stocked kitchen by littering all the counterspace with their ingredient list.

“Okay… so…” Sora squinted at the recipe book propped up against the toaster. “It says to _hand-form_ the dumplings…” Looking down at his hands, he frowned. “But what I don’t get is _how._ ” They were covered in a thick, sticky layer of dough that was more like glue than anything else. The more he tried to roll it, the more of his hand it took over.

“You know…” said Kairi as she tapped off the spoon and set it down by the simmering pot. “I was pretty surprised to hear about you and Riku…”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She folded her hands behind her back and leaned up against the counter. “I thought for sure you’d both keep it bottled up until one of you died from it.” She grinned at him and bumped Sora’s shoulder with her own. “So who did it? Who broke down and confessed? Everyone’s dying to know.”

Sora squirmed a little under her scrutiny. He wasn’t sure he could lie to Kairi, of all people. “Actually…” He pressed his hands together and pulled them apart, watching as the strings of dough stretched between his fingers. “About that, erm…”

He was interrupted by the shrill pitch of his Gummi phone’s buzzer.

“It’s done already?!” Sora called out, looking at the horrible goop on his hands. The dumplings weren’t even in the soup yet.

Kairi giggled. “No, no, that’s the ring tone, not the alarm,” he said, picking his phone up off the counter. “It’s Lea. Here.” He picked it up and held it up in front of both of them, flashing Lea a peace sign.

“Hey, Lea!” she said, beaming.

“Hey, Kairi, where’s—”

“Give ‘im here!” came Scrooge’s voice as he hopped up into the frame in front of Lea’s face before sinking back down out of view. They watched as Lea then knelt down, holding the camera to keep Scrooge in frame.

“There ya go, old man.”

“Sora, this is no way to be doing business!”

Sora grinned sheepishly as Uncle Scrooge snatched Gummi Phone from Lea’s hands, holding it closer.

“I know, I’m sorry, I really wanted to see you and Little Chef, too,” he said, rubbing an itch on his face with the back of his hand. “And I was looking forward to that cake!”

“You can go ahead and tell that _Riku_ of yours that he can’t go around canceling reservations so close to their start time just because he’s _sick!_ ”

“Oh… Yeah, well, actually, Riku didn’t know about it.” He offered an apologetic smile. “It was kind of supposed to be a surprise.”

“Was it?” Sora watched Lea plucked the Gummi phone from Scrooge’s hands, and he jumped up to try and reclaim it. “A _surprise_ , huh? And he just up and ditched you?”

“Hey, come on. I told you he got sick!”

“Alright, alright. I _believe_ you.”

“He’s telling the truth, Lea,” said Kairi as she shifted the camera toward herself. “We’re trying to make soup for Sora to bring to him, but…” She laughed gleefully. “I’m afraid we’re not doing a very good job.”

“Well, if _you_ say it, then it must be true.” Kairi nodded, pleased. “Oh, Xion wanted me to pass a message on,” he went on. “Rapunzel’s got some dancing lessons or something going on for the festival. Apparently, she wants to lead some kind of dance… thingy.” He waived his hand vaguely between him and the phone.

“Alright! You guys are gonna love it.” Sora couldn’t contain his excitement at the news; everyone twirling and stomping to the music together in the square was _such_ a good time.

“Hold on, kiddo, don’t get too excited. _Xion_ says that _Rapunzel_ says it’s _different_ this time, and she wants her friends to lead.” He tapped his temple. “Got it memorized?”

Well. Then they were in for even more fun. And Sora was about to say so when Scrooge pulled on Lea’s arm, bringing the phone back down to himself.

“I believe Little Chef knows what’s wrong with that mess on your hands…”

\--- 

Sora didn’t let Riku know he was coming until he was there. It was awkward, though, standing around at someone’s front door with a package in one hand and a phone in the other, waiting for Riku to reply to his messages. Kairi suggested surprising Riku with his soup and dumplings, and Sora like the sound of that, but he was doubting himself the longer he stood there.

So he messaged him again:

_Rikuuuuu_

_feeling better?_

And he waited a minute, but no response. So he messaged him again:

_you awake?_

This time the three dots showed up on screen that signified Riku was typing. He smiled, waited – and then the dots disappeared, and no message showed. A minute passed, and Riku didn’t reply again. Hm. Sora frowned, shifting on the doorstep, wondering what he should do, when he heard music start playing from somewhere in the yard.

Weird.

He stepped off the doorstep and sidled over to the house, peering around the corner to take a look. Riku’s Gummi ship was parked in the lawn, parts of the hull removed and set aside. His Gummi phone was flat in the grass blasting the music he’d never heard, while Riku was on his back _underneath_ it doing work.

“Riku?”

Sora padded on over to the ship. There was a pause in movement, then he heard Riku shift, setting his tools down at his sides. Sora stepped back, smiled, and waited.

Riku emerged from underneath the Gummi ship in a white tank top covered in Gummi grease, smudges dotted on his biceps and hands, as well as a giant streak across his nose, as if Riku had scratched at an itch, unaware of how much had been on his fingers.

This was a look Sora had _not_ seen on him before. He must have been back here tinkering since they got back. A blush crept across Sora’s cheeks as he realized how unbelievably _cute_ he looked like this, all disheveled in his own element, unaware of being seen.

“Everything alright, Sora?” he asked, wiping his hands off on his shirt as he stood up.

“I made you some soup.” Sora held the covered dish out between them. “To make you feel better. I've got a spoon, you just sit down and—”

“You made me soup?”

Riku’s voice was almost shy. He hesitated, then reached out and took the bowl, opening it to reveal the nice, doughy layer of perfectly plump dumplings.

“Don’t look so confused!” Sora said, scrubbing the back of his neck. “Kairi did most of the work… And it turns out Little Chef is the better cook between the two of us.”

Riku’s expression softened, and he smiled at Sora, closing the container at last. “Because I said I didn’t feel good?”

Sora nodded. “Oh!” He shuffled around in his pockets for a spoon and handed it to Riku who took it, but held it beside the bowl before giving Sora a searching look.

“Do you not like it?”

“Sora,” he started, setting the soup on the ship’s hull. “You know we’re not actually dating, right?”

Sora frowned.

“So?” He couldn’t explain why hearing that made his chest tighten. He _did_ know that, he knew they were pretending – but it was like a fun game, where it was the two of them against everyone else. “I'm allowed to make soup for my best friend.”

“And plan a whole _date_ for your best friend,” Riku said, smiling weakly. Sora shifted uncomfortably. “Lea sent me a picture, bragging that he and Isa got our table. The meal looked delicious, by the way. So thank you for… _trying_ to plan that.” Riku's shoulders went up just a little. "Sorry for ruining it."

Sora didn’t know what to say to that. He felt a bit caught in a lie, even though Riku was supposed to be in on it with him. “We can’t _pretend_ to date we don’t _act_ like we’re dating,” he said.

Riku gave another soft smile, placing a hand on Sora’s shoulder. “The whole point of pretending to date means we’re not actually dating. And…” His expression shifted and he looked down as if lost in thought. “I’ll keep it up for the festival, I’ve agreed to that much already… But I can’t pretend we’re dating when it’s just us.”

“Right.” Sora tried to give Riku a good smile, he wanted to be able to appreciate the patience his best friend had for him – but it felt oddly like Riku had just broken up with him. “Of course. Then…I’ll let you get back to… resting, then.”

Riku looked a bit flustered by that, glancing back at the Gummi ship, then back down at his messy shirt. “Sorry, I—"

“Oh! And! Rapunzel is leading a dance lesson for the festival.”

“She is? When?”

Sora shrugged. “I’ll get you the specifics.” He wanted to ask, _think we can pretend for that?_ But he managed to hold himself back. “And… you’ll go with me?”

“Dance lessons?” Riku seemed a bit skeptical.

“What? Worried you’ll look silly?”

“Worried? Me?” Sora was relieved to see a trace of a smirk kick up at the corners of Riku’s mouth. “You wish.”


End file.
